What an egg is
An egg defines how a piece of software is installed and started on a Pterodactyl server: the Docker image used, the installation script, the startup command, and the configurable variables exposed to the user. Eggs are grouped into categories called nests (for example: Minecraft, Source games, Discord bots).
Importing an existing egg
From the panel administration (Nests section), an import button loads an egg from a JSON file or a direct URL to that file. Most community eggs are distributed this way and import in seconds.
- Get the
.jsonfile for the egg you want. - Go to Nests > Import Egg.
- Select the target nest (or create a new one if none fits).
- Upload the file.
An egg's structure
An egg mainly defines:
- the Docker image used to run the server (the base system environment);
- the installation script, run once when the server is created, to download and prepare the software;
- the startup command, run each time the server launches;
- the variables exposed to the end user (version, port, options), with their validation rules.
Editing an imported egg
An imported egg stays editable from the interface: installation script, variables, Docker image. Useful for adapting it slightly to your infrastructure (a different download mirror, an extra variable) without starting over.
Creating a custom egg
For software with no community egg available, an egg can be created manually by defining each of the elements above from the editing interface. It takes longer than an import, but follows exactly the same structure.